Secretary of State John F. Kerry called Thursday for unity between Russia and the United States to help end the conflict in Syria, saying this week’s terrorist attacks in Brussels have “underscored the urgency” of defeating the Islamic State.
In brief remarks at the Russian Foreign Ministry’s guest house in downtown Moscow, Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised a recent cease-fire agreement in Syria that seeks to jumpstart U.N.-brokered peace efforts in Geneva.
After talks with Lavrov, Kerry is slated to meet with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, where Kerry will seek to gauge Moscow’s readiness for a political transition in Syria that could remove President Bashar al-Assad from power.
